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Amid skilled trades shortage, union puts on 'showcase' to draw workers

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Vince Zangari joked that his co-workers would give him a hard time if they knew he was showcasing his cement-finishing skills using sand.

The longtime member of the Labourers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) Local 1059 spent Saturday providing a first-hand experience – minus the concrete – of what a trades career looks like.

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Zangari was one a handful of LiUNA instructors giving demonstrations for Trades Awareness Day at the union’s training centre on Wilton Grove Road, where people of all ages showed up to find out more information about a career in the trades.

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“The more you know, the better going forward for life,” Zangari told three young brothers as he gave them a crash course in using a trowel and finishing broom.

Brandon MacKinnon, local 1059’s business manager, said the aim of the day-long event was to bring awareness to a career in the trades and dispel myths about the work.

“Everyone knows there’s a skilled trades shortage. . . . So this is another avenue to attract people to the trades,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to showcase the different sectors of work that we do.”

The trades on display Saturday included concrete forming; cement finishing; sewer and water main work; masonry; and curb, gutter and sidewalk work.

Officials are appealing to young people, adults looking to start new careers and skilled tradespeople looking to join the union, which has 5,300 members in Southwestern Ontario and nearly 500,000 across North America.

Monte McNaughton
Monte McNaughton, Ontario minister of labour, greets students at a LiUNA training centre in London on Wednesday, March 15, 2023. (Mike Hensen/The London Free Press)

Ontario’s labour minister, Monte McNaughton, has actively promoted careers in the skilled trades, saying past governments failed to promote them as a viable career option for young people.

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McNaughton’s Progressive Conservative government is investing $1.5 billion to fund initiatives to get more people in the trades. He has outlined a three-part approach: ending the stigma around the trades, simplifying the apprenticeship system and getting employers to bring on apprentices.

Taran Kenny, 29, attended Saturday’s event after hearing about it from a friend.

A former farm worker who now restores classic cars, Kenny said he was interested in exploring a more stable career option. “I’m just kind of browsing around,” he said.

MacKinnon said one of the biggest misconceptions about a trades career is that it’s unstable and prone to layoffs.

“The good thing about our organization is it’s diverse, so even if one particular sector of construction gets slow, others may be busy,” he said. “So you can use your transferable skills to focus on a different sector.”

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